Applied Linguistics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts (1977–2026)

The journal, Australian Review of Applied Linguistics ( ARAL ) was first published in 1977, and in the second issue of that year, its first paper on Applied Linguistics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts was published. Since then, forty-three articles have been published. In this study, we survey the field of Applied Linguistics in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts as represented in ARAL . We identify the main subfields — namely, language and education; bilingual education; language description; language shift, maintenance and revitalisation; language policy, planning and assessment — and within each explore the themes that have emerged. We highlight the strengths of the field, including the highly collaborative and applied nature of research, but also reflect on the narrow and uneven representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts in ARAL and observe that despite ongoing calls for greater recognition for First Nations peoples’ languages and language rights, there is still much work to be done.